Disease markers
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Biomarkers have been used to diagnose and prognosticate the progress and outcome of many chronic diseases such as neoplastic and non communicable diseases. However, only recently did the field of malaria research move in the direction of actively identifying biomarkers that can accurately discriminate the severe forms of malaria. Malaria continues to be a deadly disease, killing close to a million people (mostly children) every year. ⋯ We review here what is currently known regarding biomarkers for CM outcomes. A Pub Med literature search was performed using the following search terms: "malaria," "cerebral malaria," "biomarkers," "mortality" and "neurological sequelae." This search revealed a paucity of usable biomarkers for CM management. We propose three main areas in which researchers can attempt to identify CM biomarkers: 1) early biomarkers, 2) diagnostic biomarkers and 3) prognostic biomarkers.
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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common and disabling anxiety disorder that may occur in the aftermath of exposure to potentially traumatic life events. PTSD is moderately heritable, but few specific molecular variants accounting for this heritability have been identified. Genes regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, such as corticotrophin-releasing hormone type 1 receptor gene (CRHR1), have been implicated in traumatic-stress related phenotypes but have yet to be studied in relation to PTSD. ⋯ The present study adds support for the role of CRHR1 in the stress response following potentially traumatic event exposure in youth. It should be noted that the sample size in this study was small, and therefore statistical power was low; following, results from this study should be considered preliminary. Although results are not definitive, the findings from this study warrant future replication studies on how variation in this gene relates to response to traumatic event exposure in youth.
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High Asymmetric Dimethylarginine (ADMA) levels are associated with increased platelet activity, elevated blood pressure, vasoconstriction and impaired vascular relaxation. We hypothesized that the myocardial infarction morning peak of occurrence is closely related to a morning peak of ADMA levels. We performed a cross-sectional study among patients with documented myocardial infarction who had been enrolled in the prospective MISSION. ⋯ The amplitude (95% 0.08 μmol/L (0.004-0.16) with p=0.042 for statistic model significance. In conclusion, ADMA levels display a 24-hour variation with a significant morning peak in patients with acute myocardial infarction. These findings may relate ADMA levels to the acute onset of thrombotic cardiovascular events.
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Smoking is considered as the major causal factor of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Nevertheless, a minority of chronic heavy cigarette smokers develops COPD. This suggests important contribution of other factors such as genetic predisposing. ⋯ The null-GSTM1/ null-GSTT1, 105Val/Val GSTP1/null GSTT1, 113His/His EPHX1/null-GSTM1 and null-GSTM1/105Val/Val GSTP1 genotypes were related to emphysema (respectively P=0.01; P=0.009; P=0.008 and P=0.001). Combination of 113His/His EPHX1/null-GSTM1 genotypes showed a significant association with the decrease of Δ FEV1 in patients (P =0.028). In conclusion, our results suggest combined EPHX1, GSTP1, GSTM1 and GSTT1 genetic polymorphisms may play a significant role in the development of COPD, emphysema and decline of the lung function.
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Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have an increased prevalence of insulin resistance (IR) and related disorders. Elevated serum levels of high sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) reflect low-grade chronic inflammation and have been associated with several insulin-resistant states; they are useful cardiovascular risk markers. The objective of this study was to investigate whether soluble inflammatory markers are altered in PCOS focusing on its relationship with obesity and indexes of insulin resistance. ⋯ PCOS and obesity induce an increase in serum inflammatory cardiovascular risk markers. The precise mechanisms underlying these associations require additional studies to clarify the state of the cardiovascular system in women with PCOS compared with controls in large numbers of patients to determine the relative contribution of different factors including insulin resistance, androgen status and BMI.